1 / 17

The Case Method: Art and Skill

The Case Method: Art and Skill. Narrative storytelling for interactive learning February 7, 2012 MDP Summit , Bangladesh. Types of case study. Best practices Social welfare case Academic product * “ Teaching ” case *. Educating professionals across disciplines.

marvin
Download Presentation

The Case Method: Art and Skill

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Case Method:Art and Skill Narrative storytelling for interactive learning February 7, 2012 MDP Summit, Bangladesh

  2. Types of case study • Best practices • Social welfare case • Academic product • * “Teaching” case *

  3. Educating professionals across disciplines Harvard Law School (1880s) Harvard Business School (1920s) Kennedy School of Government (1950s) Harvard Medical School (1990s) Journalism, education, public health etc.

  4. Why cases? • Beyond the practical basics: using the tools • Build skills of critical thinking and judgment • Encourage students to think for themselves • Vicarious real world experience

  5. What a “teaching” case is • Vehicle for classroom discussion • Tells a real story, about real people • Stops at a decision point • Presents at least two equally compelling potential courses of action • Original research into decisionmaking process • Neutral narrator

  6. What a “teaching” case does • Describes situation in sufficient detail to put readers in shoes of protagonist • Leaves to students hard work of deciding what to do next • Describes situation, does not prescribe solution • Reflects reality: never enough information, time, resources

  7. What a case class is • Participatory, interactive • Based on discussion, not lecture • Focuses on learning rather than teaching • Instructor is guide, not expert • Experiential, eg long lasting

  8. What a case class does • Learning on 3 levels: knowledge, skills, self • Case subject matter • Practice critical thinking skills, judgment • Builds skills of negotiation, public speaking, teamwork • Gives students chance to discover own preconceptions • Invests students in their own learning • Demonstrates world is gray, not black & white

  9. 3 levels of learning:(2) critical thinking • analysis • diagnosis • anticipate consequences • prescription • defend position = JUDGMENT

  10. The case teacher • “The discussion teacher is planner, host, moderator, devil’s advocate, fellow student and judge—a potentially confusing set of roles.” -- C. Roland Christensen, in Education for Judgment

  11. The case teacher • Poses a key opening question • Speaks 15% of time (ideally!) • Guides group discussion • Plays devil’s advocate • Has a “learning plan” for the discussion (less is more) • Establishes culture of respect

  12. Student comments • “By far the best learning method I've used.” • “For once, we actually thought in class. It's such a nice change from PowerPoint learning. I loved it.” • “This case study was so useful, to me, because it introduced a conflict that I could ACTUALLY see one of us encountering in our own professional lives.”

  13. Faculty comments • “I found that this case allowed us to go deep on a number of tactical and strategic … lessons that would otherwise be hard to teach.” • “I'm finding that the cases are working well. They are certainly engaging and it is so much better to work on real-life cases than on hypotheticals.”

  14. Case focus: leadership, management, ethics Sample topic/case incidents: • Topic: public health policy on incarcerated elderly • Case: Should a California public health doctor recommend that a prisoner with heart and lung disease apply for medical parole? • Topic: challenges of combatting environmental illness • Case: How should doctors running the BEST arsenicosis clinical trial in Laksam, Bangladesh respond to local press attacks? • Topic: food security in East Timor • Case:How do policy advisors to the prime minister implement a problematic rice production policy?

  15. Case questions cont. • Topic: the meaning of “balanced” in science reporting • Case: How can a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporting team responsibly inform readers whether bisophenol A is safe or not? • Topic: keeping national politics out of the newsroom • Case: How should the Daily Nation (Nairobi) managing editor handle hostility and suspicion among reporters following contested elections? • Topic: delivering humanitarian aid to lawless areas • Case: How can the OCHA-Somalia director in Nairobi get aid into Somalia without losing lives and/or supplies?

  16. Sample case topic areas • Public health policy • Investigative reporting • Public/government policy • Crisis management • Ethics • International relations • Strategic management

  17. Contact us • Case Consortium @ Columbiahttps://casestudies.jrn.columbia.edu • Email: klundberg@columbia.edu • Phone: 212-854-8398 or 212-854-6306 • Mail: 2950 Broadway, NYC 10027

More Related